Habituating Holiness
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Our parshah begins kedoshim tehiyu, with the command to be holy, for I Hashem your God am holy. It is then immediately followed by what appears to be an adaptation of the Ten Commandments, teaching us that our holiness as individuals and as a nation is dependent on our adherence to Torah. Nevertheless, the additional command, "You shall be holy," implies that holiness requires more than just strict adherence to Torah law.
Pirkei Avos 6:4 seems to imply that we need to live very austere lives, eat only bread with salt, sleep on the ground.. But Rabbi Druck zt”l challenges this formula. After all, if we believe that the world was created for Bnei Yisroel and our acceptance of the Torah, the world was created for our enjoyment of its produce, its furniture, and all else. Therefore, becoming holy must involve something other than asceticism. Rather, as Rabbi Weissblum writes, holiness involves performing mitzvoth at the highest level.
The Novomisker Rav zt”l clarifies that there is nothing in this world that cannot have an element of holiness. Holiness involves both leaving and eschewing the negative and evil, and moving forward and doing good. In its most fundamental meaning, holiness is an expression of separation. Refraining from sin, circumscribing your indulgence in worldly pleasure is a manifestation of kedushah. But engaging with the world in an elevating manner is raising the world to holiness.
In a beautiful interpretation, Rabbi Svei zt”l cites the Medrash that Hashem gifted Yaakov Avinu and his future nation with sanctity when He added the name Yisroel to Yaakov just as He later gifted Aharon with the priesthood and David with kingship. Thus every Jew is sanctified, albeit hidden, by virtue of being a member of Kllal Yisroel.
Indeed, kedushah is based on separation, explains Rabbi Weissblum, Because we have innate holiness, we must protect that holiness, separating from anything that might contaminate it, most specifically in areas of sexual behavior. That is why the kohein, with greater kedushah, may not marry certain women, to train him in even further restraint. But for all of Bnei Yisroel, we access our innate sanctity through our mitzvah observance. That is why we recite, that "Hashem has sanctified us through His mitzvoth" before we perform them.
Because we have innate kedushah, the Torah command to be holy must be a command to reveal that holiness. [According to legend, Michelangelo was asked how he could create such magnificent sculpture. He replied that the beautiful piece was already in the marble; he was merely chipping away the extraneous stone to reveal it. To me, lehavdil, we have innate kedushah. We must chip away, leave the negative surrounding it, reveal the beauty within us, and them polish that kedushah by doing mitzvoth, doing good. CKS] Extricate yourself from the physical lures of this world to work toward kedushah, adds the Sifsei Daas.
What you focus on is what becomes the world you live in. If your focus is on physical pleasure, you will leave little or no room for the holy, writes Rabbi Lopiansky, and the more you work on holiness, the more Hashem will help you achieve higher levels.
Kedushah is designation to a particular purpose, as one designates an item for donation to the Beit Hamikdosh. So too does one achieve holiness by focusing on and dedicating himself to kedushah, writes Rabbi Svei. We do that not by living ascetically, but by doing the mitzvoth with proper focus, adds Rabbi Dunner zt”l. In fact, right after the command to be holy, the Torah lists mitzvoth that should be part of ordinary life, like revering parent, giving to the poor, prohibitions against misleading people. Reb Moshe zt"l teaches us that although these are logical mitzvoth, they become holy when we observe them not because they are logical, but because Hashem so commanded.
In this same context, Rabbi Sternbach notes that we are actually commanded to enjoy the world through concepts like oneg Shabbat/Shabbat, enjoyment of Shabbat and yom tov observed through good food and social interaction.
Don't limit yourself just to what the Torah allows or prohibits, adds Rabbi Nevenzahl. Take what is not itemized in the Torah and find a way to utilize it in Hashem's service. And, adds Rabbi Wolbe zt”l, don't overindulge in what is permitted. Every time you resist a craving, you are weakening the yetzer horo.
When we do mitzvoth properly, we attempt to connect to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. We not only act in sanctified ways, we ourselves become sanctified, as the blessing itself says, "... Who has sanctified us through His mitzvoth..." writes the Netivot Shalom. That is why we start our physical day with mitzvoth, with netilat yadayim, ritual hand washing and prayer. As Rabbi Garfinkle writes in Ka'asher Tziva Hashem, the only way to truly connect to Hashem is through doing the mitzvoth as Hashem commanded, with an awareness of Hashem, not by rote, out of habit.
A Jew desires for a continuous connection to Hashem, a desire we inherited from our Patriarchs, writes the Tosher Rebbe zt”l. We constantly refer to Hashem as Elokheinu. our God, for His infinite light is within us; all we need is to tap into that energy. The challenge is that our physical bodies pull us toward physical desires. We need to access the embers of sanctity within us and fan their flames. Yes, we are physical beings with physical needs. But we can focus our need as a necessity to serve Hashem, to remain healthy and strong so that we can continue to observe the mitzvoth. Then we can overcome those physical urges that serve no purpose in bringing us closer to Hashem.
As an interesting observation, the Tosher Rebbe notes that our modern golus/spiritual exile is an exile of abundance. There is so much of everything available in our society that we tend to indulge and saturate ourselves in the physical and mundane to the extent that we leave no room for the spiritual. To this, Rabbi Ruderman zt”l suggests that each of us take away one of our indulgences, each according to his own level, to move toward kedushah. The nazir who abstains from just three things is called holy. [No grape or wine consumption, no shaving or haircut, no contact with death.]
Taking a different approach, the Netivot Shalom tells us That the gift of kedushah is reserved for the kahal, for the congregation of Bnei Yisroel in unity. The individual can achieve sanctity when he devotes himself to the special needs of the tzibur, the community. We are naturally wired to care for our individual selves, but the definition of self becomes auto-expanding in life. It begins expanding even in childhood, within the family, enlarges to include one's spouse, one's friends, and, in its most perfected form, includes all of kllal Yisroel, writes Rabbi Shkop zt”l. When he expands his self to include so many others, then even his selfish desires become elevated and holy, for then he is truly emulating Hashem; he has fulfilled the command, "You shall be holy, for holy am I, Hashem your God.